gailmo

Ok Folks, I am ready to toss my "lurking" status to the wind and jump into posting on this forum. I have been a faithful lurker for the past year or so....hoping that I can figure a way to get back to Asia. It took me awhile, but the stars, the moon and the sun are all lined up.... and I leave for Hanoi on Monday for a semester of teaching at one of the universities there. Needless to say, I am excited.....and want to thank all of you for keeping the flame for Asia burning brightly.

One of our Vietnamese graduate students lives in Hanoi and pulled together a list of restaurants she thought were places I might like. I thought I would post it here..... some of these might be re-runs from other posts, but some of them might be new places. As I try them...I will pass on anything exceptional I run across.

I will be flying Korean Airlines --Chicago--Seoul--Hanoi. So if anyone is hanging out in Incheon Monday afternoon--early evening, give me a holler and we can plan a mini GTG.



List of Hanoi Restaurants and Entertainment facilities

1. Lotus restaurant (Quan Sen): It’s is a Vietnamese buffet place with very good Vietnamese food. It cost about $ 10.00. It’s located near the Water Park at the West lake (Cong vien nuoc Ho Tay).

2. Quan Ngon Restaurant, Phan Boi Chau Street: This is Joe’s favorite restaurant but it’s very touristy for me. There are many special dishes from different parts of the countries. It’s often very crowded.

3. Sea food restaurant, # 7, To Hien Thanh street. There are many sea food restaurants along this street but this is my favorite one. It’s a small restaurant but great seafood. They have great butter-garlic and lemongrass prawn dish.

4. Koto restaurant, Van Mieu street, near the temple of literature: This place helps train street kids and is run by a Vietnamese-Australian. The food there is served by the kids under training. The atmosphere and food is quite good there too.

5. Windmill: I am not sure the exact address but it’s a great place for freshly made bia (bia tuoi) and great food. You can look in the travel book for the address.

6. Special Fish restaurant (Cha Ca La Vong), Luong Van Can street: This place is a long established restaurant and they serve only one type of dish there: fish with noodle. It’s served in a pan that’s put on a hot charcoal burner. It’s a small place and is very crowded during lunch and dinner time. You might have to wait for a table so don’t go there when you are very hungry and feel like you can’t wait.

7. Vietnamese beefsteak, Hoa Ma street: It’s very famous place for Vietnamese. It also serves only one type of dish (a hot dish with beef, meatball, egg, green onion and bread)

8. Hanoi street’s specialties: There are a variety of local street dishes that you might want to try: Pho, Bun Cha (grilled pork with round noodle), Mien Ngan (duck with vermicelli), Banh cuon (rice paper cake).

9. Western Buffet: Sharaton hotel Sunday brunch, Deawoo hotel

10. Swimming pool: Army hotel, 33 Pham Ngu Lao: there are two pools; one the ground floor and one on the first/second floor. We prefer the second floor one because it’s usually very quiet and we have the pool for our selves. It’s also cleaner. You should go there between 10am-3pm because no Vietnamese show up at these hours. It cost 45,000VND (less than $3).

Kristina

Just found this-thanks for posting. We plan on being in Hanoi next summer and it's never to early (for me) to start gathering restaurant recommendations.
Good luck with your teaching. Please post more finds as you come across them.

FromDC

Thanks, Gailmo, it will be very helpful for our weeklong visit in late October. Since you will be there for a semester, perhaps you will get to know someone at the university who likes to "moonlight" as a guide. We would love to have someone like that take us around to some museums, esp the Temple of Literature. And I would really like to meet some academic colleagues.

Nywoman

There is an organisation made up of University students who act as free of charge guides.
This is their e-mail [email protected]

FromDC

Thanks, NY...do you know anyone who has used them?

filmwill

I would add Green Tangerine to that list. Holy good god...that was some of the best food I've ever eaten.

MrAOK

And in addition to Green Tangerine, I'd add the Press Club

offwego

When I'm in Hanoi I eat Bun cha morning noon and night. Here is a photo of the restaurant (with address) of the best bowl I found so far.

http://www.pbase.com/loricarlson/image/75955812

Oh Lordy I wish I was having some right now.

matt817

I loved Green Tangerine -- food, ambiance, great wine list.

Also, I've used (and posted about) Hello Hanoi. I had a great experience with them two summers ago. I learned a lot from them, and it was fun teaching them English.

ared2879

this will come in handy for our late feb trip!

gailmo

Thanks to all who have added their favorites. I am in Hanoi right now...that is the good news! The bad news is that I am living a good distance from the area where all these restaurants are located. I have been into "the quarter" only once...took a motorbike and it was great fun. I am in the process of figuring out the bus system, so hopefully that will expand my range of places to eat.

Now I am planning my "side trips" to Laos and Cambodia. Holy Smokes...expensive air fares!

Anyway, I will be here until December and am enjoying Hanoi very much.

FromDC

Great to hear from you, enjoy and travel safely